Prema driver Maximilian Gunther snatched victory in the first European Formula 3 race at the Norisring after a clash between Jake Hughes and Lando Norris.
Hitech driver Hughes claimed his first pole position in the series for the European F3 opener at the street track and held a narrow lead over the chasing pack for most of the race.
Norris dropped several places at the start, but quickly made up ground, holding third until a mid-race pass on Gunther elevated him to the runner-up spot.
As the closing few laps approached, Norris started to pile pressure on Hughes and went for a move into the hairpin but the inside line was covered.
Both were on the dirty part of the track and Hughes lost the rear slightly, with Norris appearing to lock up and tag the leader into a spin.
With no way of controlling his car, Hughes hit the wall and exited the race, while Norris recovered in third place – behind Gunther and the patient Pedro Piquet.
Gunther went on to snatch the race win, his fourth of the 2017 season, with Norris passing Piquet late on before a time penalty dropped him down the order.
Guanyu Zhou was promoted to third, ahead of Motopark’s Joel Eriksson, who recovered from a problematic qualifying that left him starting from the back row.
Harrison Newey and Jehan Daruvala were fifth and sixth, the latter surviving contact with Joey Mawson – who was pitched into the wall and caused a full course yellow.
Mick Schumacher, Tadasuke Makino, Ralf Aron and Nikita Mazepin completed the top 10.
Norris fell to 11th once his penalty was applied.
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